Redbirds Rap

Cardinal leaders in the decade of 1900's

Putting ourselves in the first decade on the 20th century we would've had a hard time for this was, believe it or not, the worst decade in the history of the Redbirds.  Its hard to believe after some of the horrible seasons in the 1890's.  But, while the '90's had some good years, there was only one club with a record of over .500 during the decade which saw 3 Cardinals clubs finish in last with no pennants.

The best team would've been the 1901 Cardinals who finished the season in 4th place with a 76-64 .543 -14.5.   This  club led the NL with 39 HRs and 792 Runs scored.  The worst club would come in 1903 finishing in 8th place (last) with a 43-94 .314 -46.5. 

For the decade the team was led by the following players in the following categories;
RF Patsy Donovan with a .314 BA, a .360 OBP, 303 Runs and 132 SB.  CF Homer Smoot had a .385 SLG and 252 RBIs.  LF Jesse Burkett led with 17 HRs.

On the mound the Redbirds were led by;
Jack Taylor with 43 wins, Fred Beebe 434 Ks and Ed Karger with a 2.46 ERA.

Owned by the Robison brothers the Club was still floundering and it would be a while before the team finally turned around.  ut, when it did, it would become one of the great teams in the history of the NL.  But, we would be old by that time if we lived during the first decade of the 20th Century.

Jesse Burkett

Cardinal Leaders of the 1890's

If we had been alive back in the 1890's we as Cardinal fans would've come out of the 80's thrilled with the 4 straight AA pennants and 2 (one disputed) World Championships.  The 1890's would find us thrilled to finally get rid of Chris Von Der Ahe as the owner and happy that the Redbirds would move to the NL.  But, we would be less than thrilled by the results. 

The best team we would have to root for would be the 1891 team that would finish 2nd in the AA 8.5 games back with a 81-51 record.  The worst team would be the 1898 edition which would be the worst in Redbird history finishing last in 12th place 23 games behind the the 11th place club and 63.5 games out of first with a record of 29-102 .221.  It was a hard decade to be a Redbird fan especially after the 1880's.

Here are the Cardinal Leaders for the decade of the 1890's.  

Roger Connor 1B  .304 BA, 27 HR, SLG .490, OBP .390
Tommy Dowd CF  277 Runs, 489 RBIs, 187 SB

On the staff these were the leaders for the decade;
Ted Breitenstein  94 Wins, 625 Ks
Jack Stivetts 3.18 ERA

Of note was that in 1899 Cy Young pitched for the Redbirds who finished 5th with a 84-67 .556 -18.5 record. Cy won 26 games for the Cardinals.

Hope this was interesting and informative....

Cy Young

Cardinal Leaders for the 1880's

If we lived back in 1880's we would have been talking about the Redbird leaders of that time.  Who were the Cardinals (then known as the Brown Stockings or Browns) leaders in that decade?  Below they are listed.  Not all stats were kept every year so some will be missing. By the way we would be rooting them on to win the American Association pennant for they had not joined the National League yet.  However, the roots of the Cardinals/Cubs rivalry began in this decade.  Anyway, these are the guys who led the club for the decade in the following categories.  Hope you find this interesting....

1880's Leaders

BA
Tip O'Neill LF  .348

HR
Tip O"Neill LF  28

OBP
Tip O'Neill  LF  .407

SLG
Tip O'Neill  LF   .498

RUNS
Arlie Latham 3B   829

PITCHING

WINS
Dave Foutz  114

Ks
Dave Foutz  619

ERA
Bob Caruthers   2.51

Best Team of the Decade
1885 World Champions  79-33  .705  +16  World Championship disputed.
1886 World Champions  93-46  .669  +12  Won World Series 4 games to 2 over Chicago White Stockings (today's Cubs). 

Pennants
1885, 1886, 1887, 1888

Tip O'Neill

1886 The First Cardinals World Championship

In 1886 they were known as the St. Louis Browns and played in the American Association.  But, they were the team that would later be called the Cardinals and play in the NL. 

After the disputed Championship of 1885 against the Chicago White Stockings (today's Cubs ... boooo!) the 1886 St. Louis nine ran roughshod over the AA to return to the World Series again. In fact they would win the AA pennants in 85, 86, 87 and 88.  A true dynasty of the AA in the 1880's it would take the Redbirds years before they would once again reach this level of play.

The Cardinals had a 93-46 .669 +12 record and their record against the rest of the AA was as follows;
Pittsburgh Alleghenys (today's Pirates) 12-8, Brooklyn Grays 13-7  (today's Dodgers), Louisville Colonels 9-10, Cincinnati Reds 15-5 (today's Reds), Philadelphia Athletics 15-5, New York Metropolitans 16-4 and the Baltimore Orioles 13-7. 

Playing in Sportman's Park the team was managed by Charles Comiskey.  They led the AA with 1365 hits, 944 runs, 206 doubles, 336 stolen bases, .273 team BA and a team .360 SA.  The staff led the league with a 2.49 ERA.

Leading the team in hitting were the following;
LF Tip O'Neill with 579 AB, 190 H, 14 Triples, 107 RBIs (led league).  3B Arlie Latham 152 R (led league) and 60 SB.  CF Curt Welch who had 31 doubles, 2b Yank Robinson who put up 64 BB, P Bob Caruthers who led the team with .334 BA and a .527 SA.

The staff was led by Dave Foutz who had 59 G, 504 IP, 57 GS, 55 CG, a league leading 41 W (Caruthers had 30 which made quite a 1-2 punch!), 16 L, 283 Ks, 144 BB, 11 SHO and a league leading 2.11 ERA.

The World Series (pre-1900 Series) was a repeat of the last season's.  It featured the Chicago White Stockings (today's Cubs ... BOOOOOO!!!!) against the St. Louis Browns.  A best of 7 Series it figured to be a heated affair.

The first game in Chicago saw a 6-0 win by Chicago with Foutz taking the loss.  But Caruthers led the St. Louis nine to a 12-0 win in Chicago to even the Series at 1 all.  The third game was in Chicago also and Caruthers and the Browns lost 12-4 to put Chicago up 2-1.

But the Series moved to St. Louis and Foutz pitched the Browns to a 8-5 win to even the Series up a 2.  The following day Hudson took the mound for St. Louis and they crushed the Cubs... errr White Stockings 10-0 to be one win away from defeating the NL for the first time in the pre-1900 World Series.  Caruthers then took the mound and when the dust had cleared after 10 innings the Cardinals had won their first world Series by a 4-3 score!

In the Series the Cardinals hit .262 with Tip O'Neill leading the team with a .400 BA and 2 HR.  The team ERA was 2.81 with Caruthers having 2 wins and leading the team with 5 RBIs.  The Cubs hit .195 for the Series and had a team ERA of 3.69.

So, the Cardinals were the World Champions for the first time.  In 1887 they would return to the Series, but it wouldn;t be Chicago they faced and the results would be very, very different.

 

Cardinals MVPs-Congratulations Albert Pujols

With the unanimous decision giving Albert Pujols his 2nd straight NL MVP and the third of his career I thought we would list the Cardinals MVP winners in history.  Again, congratulations Albert Pujols!!!

St. Louis Cardinals MVP Winners

1931 Frankie Frisch
1934 Dizzy Dean
1937 Joe Medwick
1942 Mort Cooper
1943 Stan Musial
1944 Marty Marion
1946 Stan Musial
1948 Stan Musial
1964 Ken Boyer
1967 Orlando Cepeda
1968 Bob Gibson
1971 Joe Torre
1979 Keith Hernandez
1985 Willie McGee
2005 Albert Pujols
2008 Albert Pujols
2009 Albert Pujols

Winningest Single Seasons for Redbirds Pitchers....

TOP 10 WINNING SEASONS

1. Silver King  1888  45

2. Dave Foutz 1886  41

3. Bob Caruthers 1885  40

4. Tony Mullane 1883  35

5. Elton Chamberlain 1889  34     5.  Silver King 1889 34          

7. Dan Foutz  1885  33                7. Jack Stivetts  1891  33

9. Silver King  1886  30                                                                         

10. Bob Caruthers    1886  30       10. Dizzy Dean 1934   30                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                            

1875 when there were two St. Louis teams, part 2

In our last blog we posted about the St. Louis Red Stockings who did not finish the season. We now turn to the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the National Association in 1875 who did finish the season and had a good year in the process.

The Brown Stockings played in the last season of the NA in 1875 and in 1876 when the National League was born the Brown Stockings were a charter member of that organization lasting until 1877 when they went out of business. 

The Browns played at what was called Grand Avenue Park which would later be called Sportsmans Park where the NL Cardinals and Browns of the AL would play until the 1960's. 

The Browns finished in 4th place with a 39-29 .574 -26.5 with record at home of 21-12 and going 18-17 on the road.  A tough solid team the Brown Stockings had the following record against the rest of the NA;

Boston Red Stockings (the present day Braves) 2-7
Hartford Dark Blues  5-5
Philadelphia Athletics 1-6
Philadelphia Pearls    5-5
Chicago White Stockings (the present day Cubs) 5-5
New York Mutuals  8-0
New Haven Elm Citys  2-1
Washington  3-0
St. Louis Red Stockings 2-0
Philadelphia Centennials  (did not play)
Brooklyn Atlantics  2-0
Keokuk Westerns  4-0

As a team the Browns hit .240 (5th in the NA), led the NA with 108 SB, 248 RBIs  (4th in the NA) and a 2.10 ERA (4th). 

LF Ned Cuthbert  led the Browns with 319 AB and 68 runs.  CF Lip Pike led the Browns with 108 hits, 22 doubles, 12 Triples (which led the NA!), 44 RBI, 25 SB, a .346 BA and a .494 SA.  1B Dutch Dehlman led the team with 11 BB (this led the NA also!).

On the mound  George Bradley led the staff with 60 G, 535.2 IP, 60 GS, 57 CG, 60 K, 17 BB and 5 Shutout.  Pud Gavin led the team with a 1.16 ERA. 

Manage Dicky Pearce  also played SS for the Brown Stockings.  As good as he was he would not return for the 1876 season in the NL.

So, that is the 1875 Brown Stockings.  They would continue on for a couple of more years in the new National League.  For their first year they did pretty good if you ask me.  Not a bad start for professional baseball in St. Louis.  Not a bad effort at all!

Come back soon for more baseball coverage!

1875 when there were two St. Louis teams, part one

Before there was the National League in 1876 a professional league called the National Association was the big league for baseball.  While it had its shortcomings and was only in business from 1871-75 it was the first pro league of baseball.  St. Louis did not appear in the NA until its final year and that year two teams played in the Association. 

The first was the St. Louis Red Stockings (called the Reds also) and the second was the St. Louis Brown Stockings.  In part one we will cover the Red Stockings who did not even finish the season.  The reason was found out later to be that the owners wanted to get as much money from playing at home as possible and to rarely if travel and to take their money and run. Take their money and run they did.

The Reds played only 19 of the 82 games scheduled that year.  Of course NA teams barnstormed while on the road and while at home playing independent pro, semi-pro and town teams. So, the Reds played many more games outside the Association than in it reaping monetary awards the short time they were in the Association.

A very young team, their third baseman Trick McSorely was reported to be 16 years old.  They played like a young team having a horrendous 19 games they played in the NA.  Playing at Compton Park the Reds only left home to play twice on the road, once in Keokuk and the other in Chicago.  For thos interested you can go to 3750 South Compton in St. Louis for there is a Historical Marker there from SABR marking the spot where they played.

The Reds finished the season in 10th place out of the 13 teams that entered.  Their record was 4-15 .211 -37.  They were 3-11 at home and 1-4 on the road.  They were nothing compared to their cross-town rivals who actually had a very good season as you will see in part 2 of this series.

A example of ineptitude the Reds as a team hit .199 which was 11th in the NA.  The team ERA was 2.63 which was better than their hitting as it came in at 8th place.  They scored 60 runs in 19 games which was pretty anemic.

The team was led by 1B Charlie Hautz who had a .301 BA, a .337 SA, 83 AB, 25 Hits, tied for SB at 5 with LF Art Croft.  SS Billy Redmond scored 12 Runs to lead the team, CF Bill Morgan hit 4 doubles and walked 5 times to lead the Reds.  RF Tom Oran had 1 Triple and 10 RBIs to take team honors.

On the mound Joe Blong led the team with 15 G, 129 IP, 15 GS, 12 CG, 3 Wins, 12 Losses, 14 Ks, 2 BB while Bill Morgan tied him with 1 Shutout and led with a 1.29 ERA.

It was teams like the Red that led to the formation of the NL in 1876 along with a multitude of other shortcomings inherent in the NA structure.  The Reds were in it for the money and the money alone.  While each team is in it for the money for they are pros, this was blatant exploitation of fans, other teams and the NA. 

The Reds had the following record against the NA rivals they did play;
Boston Red Stockings (today's Braves) 0-1
Hartford Dark Blues 0-3
Philadelphia Athletics (did not play)
Stl. Louis Brown Stockings 0-2
Philadelphia Pearls  0-1
Chicago White Stockings (today's Cubs) 0-4
New York Mutuals 0-2
New Haven Elm Citys  (did not play)
Washington  2-1
Philadelphia Centennials (did not play)
Brooklyn Atlantics (did not play)
Keokuk Westerns  2-1

The star of the team Charlie Hautz came back to the Pros in 1884 when he played in Pittsburgh for the Alleghenies now known as the Pirates.  He barely hit .200 and was gone after the season was over never to return.

Come back next time to read about the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the NA.

Redbird Review

Today the Redbirds released their spring training schedule!  To see it go here.  March 4th is the first spring training game.... less than four months away! :)

Don't forget to vote for the Cardinals All-Time 9. Make your voice be heard in choosing the greatest Redbirds!  To take part go here.

During the week Golden Gloves were awarded to Wainwright and Molina!  Pujols won a Silver Sluggers award. Carpenter won the Comeback Player award.  

Lots of focus and speculation center around Matt Holliday. Will the Redbirds sign him or go after some of the other free agents?  Will they sign John Smoltz?  Interesting.... Keep coming back here for as soon as any news breaks we will be on top of it. :)

Other news has it that McGwire will meet with the press soon to air things out.  That should prove to be interesting!

Lots of things could be happening soon with the Redbirds so keep checking back!  Often!

Soon, we will start another historical series on Redbirds Rap.  Stay in touch to read all about it!

GO CARDINALS!!!

 

The Gashouse Era, part 5

1938 was intended to be a rebuilding year and it turned out to be that. The end of the Gashouse era were now in full swing and the building of the Swifties era, the greatest era in Redbird history would soon be starting.
Dizzy went to the Cubs this year, Enos Slaughter arrived, Frisch leaves as manager at year end and Blades comes in as manager are some of the changes.

The Cardinals continued to be the hitting powerhouse of the NL leading the NL with a team .279 BA, .407 SLG,scoring 725 runs, 3rd in HR with 91 and 2nd in SB with 55.  But the pitching was horrible giving up the 2nd most runs in the NL with 721, 6th in ERA at 3.84 and the fielding only magnified the problem being 7th with a .967. 

Leading the team in hitting was Mize with a .337 BA, a OBP of .422, SLG  of .614 and 27 HR.  Medwick led with 122 RBI and scoring 100 runs.  Gutteridge had 14 SB.  The Staff was led by Weiland with 16 wins and 117 Ks.  McGee had a ERA of 3.21. 

The Commish Landis released 91 players from the Redbirds farm system  hoping, according to some, trying to ruin Rickey. However it opened the doors to the Swifties era, the greatest decade in Cardinals history.

This club was the first to finish with a losing season since 1932 and it wouldn't happen again till 1954 as in 1939 the swifties era would begin with a bang.  The Cardinals this season would finish in 6th place with a 71-80 .470 -15. 

The Gashouse era began its end with the trading of the Dizzy Dean to of all teams the Cubs this season. To add insult to injury Dizzy threw a 5-0 shutout against the Redbirds the first time they met in 1938.  It was very symbolic of the season and signaled the end of a great era in Cardinal history. 
But, Branch Rickey had plans and by the beginning of 1939 enough pieces were in place for the Cardinals to have not only a winning season but to challenge for the NL Pennant with one great season.

But, that is another story.....

If you want a great book on the early history of the Cardinals get this book. I happen to own a copy of this edition of the book and I treasure it.  Copies are available but they aren't as cheap as the 5 cents I paid for mine in 1971. :)